MANSEHRA: The district administration has closed all government and private educational institutions in Garhi Habibullah town here over a spike in coronavirus incidence and restricted the people’s entry to and exit from the area bordering Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The health department has recorded around 60 Covid-19 cases in the town.

In an order issued here, deputy commissioner Dr Qasim Ali Khan said schools and colleges had been closed in Garhi Habibullah for two weeks in line with the health department’s recommendations.

He said the department concerned wound ensure the disinfection of local streets, bazaars, schools and hospitals during the period.

The DC said Garhi Habibullah had become a Covid-19 hotspot and if the precautionary measures suggested by the government against the virus weren’t enforced, the pandemic would spread.

Admin also imposes entry, exit restrictions over 60 Covid cases

He said under sections 8 and 21 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Epidemic Control and Emergency Response Relief Ordinance, the police department would restrict the entry to and exit from all Garhi Habibullah union councils.

Meanwhile, the health department has begun random Covid-19 testing in the town.

PROTEST WARNING: The traders have warned that they will remove the Katain da Galla toll plaza by force if the National Highway Authority doesn’t execute the promised projects for the resolution of traffic issues by Nov 20.

President of the traders body Malik Shakeel Awan told reporters here on Wednesday that the residents had allowed toll collection on the condition that the NHA would build underpasses and overhead bridges and repair major roads in the city and its outskirts, but that had yet to happen.

Accompanied by trader leaders Shahid Maqbool, Junaid Khan and others, he said the NHA had also informed the Peshawar High court’s Abbottabad Bench in writing that it would spend over Rs1.2 billion to address traffic issues.

He said the NHA had been collecting toll for over a year but hadn’t begun work on the promised projects.

Trader leader Shahid Maqbool warned if work on underpasses, overhead bridges and roads didn’t begin by Nov 20, traders would agitate, observe shutter-down strikes and remove toll plaza forcibly.

TRAINING: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police department has launched a four-day programme to train more than 150 traffic wardens on modern traffic management techniques and behavioural skills.

DPO Sadiq Baloch told reporters on Wednesday that the training programme had been launched on the recommendations of the Citizen Traffic Management Committee.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2020